The End or not?
by caniGou
Summary: What would happen to all your favourite characters if something terrible was to happen to CHERUB? Who is Kate and what has she got to do with Lauren and Rat? Who is Jui Jang? Sequel to Sydney Harbour in Danger.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own CHERUB or any of the characters.**

**Please Note: This is a sequel to Sydney Harbour in Danger. Its probably not nessecary to read that story although recommended because it would answer a lot of questions that you many have :). Anyway I hope you enjoy! Please review !**

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**Chapter 1: A Long Day**

Zara groaned as she heard the shrill ring of the phone yet again. It hadn't stopped ringing all day. This time she decided to ignore it. It would only be another white shirt ringing to say how disgraced they were that the secret of CHERUB was out and Zara didn't think she could deal with that at the moment. She was at the end of her tether. It was worse than the end of a long day with Joshua and she couldn't cope. Zara, strong Zara, a rock in crises, put her head on the desk and started to cry.

*

Lauren put her hand up to knock on the door but stopped when she heard a strange sound coming from inside the office. It might not have been such a strange sound at another place in another time but from the chairwoman's office? It was unbelievable. Lauren forgot about usual practises and pulled open the door, bursting in to find Zara in a complete mess.

"OMG, Zara! Are you alright?" Lauren almost burst into tears herself at the sight of Zara. She was not the picture of health. Her eyes had huge bags under them and her face looked ragged. He clothes were all crinkled, which was ridiculous for Zara and she looked as though she had been crying for hours. Zara dragged her head from the table and looked up

"Laur-" but she could go no further before relapsing into another crying fit. Lauren, despite being one of the most caring agents on campus, had no idea what to do.

*

The red shirt building was in absolute chaos. Rat was looking everywhere for one tiny person but amongst all the little kids it was hard to see. Finally he spotted her near the door, running over he stopped and pulled Kate into a huge hug.

"There you are my darling"

"Dadda! Dadda!"

"How's your day been sweetheart?"

"I play with Sally and James all day Dadda!"

"Oi Rat! Lauren wants to see you at Zara's office!" James yelled at Rat from across the crowded room.

"Yeah thanks James, I'll be there in a tick!" Rat yelled back at James before turning to his daughter

"I've just got to go and see mama, but I'll be back in a little while ok?" Rat wasn't sure if Kate had understood all this but she turned around when her little friend Sally called and ran off happily. Rat watched her go feeling sad, what was going to happen to all these kids? At least Kate would have a home with Rat and Lauren but what about Sally and Liv and all the other little mites?

Rat walked up to the main building in a sort of daze. He just couldn't believe all this was happening! One day Lauren, James, Kerry, Zara and Ewart had all arrived home happy to see everyone, and the next day the whole campus was a mess. Staff had packed up and left, phones hadn't stopped ringing, every single black and grey shirt except Lauren, Rat and James had been farmed out on 'urgent' missions and campus, outside the red shirt building was like a ghost town. Rat had never seen anything like it.

*

Rat knocked on the door of the office and heard Lauren call

"Come in!" Rat opened the door and almost fainted with shock. Zara was crying!

"Rat, there's something I need to tell you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It really helps :)**

"_Rat, there's something I need to tell you..."_

"I don't really know how to say this" Zara started emotionally. It took a few minutes before she could start again. "Some people... some people they know about CHERUB"

Rat felt like his whole world was collapsing in front of him. Nothing had prepared him for this... not even the complete and utter desertion of campus or the glum looks of the staff that had stayed. It was unbelievable. Rat looked over at Lauren. The 16 year old girl looked worse than Rat felt but yet Rat had nothing to say. It was the worst moment of his life... worse even than the sweat box he'd experienced during his young childhood in the cult.

Zara had regained some control of herself and sat up straight before saying "The future of CHERUB is at the moment uncertain. We have sent everyone that is capable on missions and the others have been sent to children's homes. We told them they are on recruitment missions, but obviously they won't be recruiting anyone." She stopped for a minute as though thinking and Rat took the chance to say

"But wh-" Zara cut him off.

"You and Lauren have been chosen to stay behind to look after the red shirts, seeing as you are already close with Kate and her friends. We got James as well to just help you out. So..." Zara continued on despite seeing Rats mouth open to ask more questions "you will now please go back to the red shirt building and assist James in putting them to bed. We will be in contact soon"

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Meanwhile, Jui Jang Chung was feeling alone in her new home at the Children's Home in North London. Her life was boring Jui Jang decided. All she did all day was read books and get shouted at. The most interesting thing that had happened all week was the arrival of a new girl called Kerry, but then again even that wasn't that interesting because Kerry wasn't interested in the sadness of a 10 year old girl. Why was the world such a harsh place?

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"So who are these people who have discovered CHERUB? I can't believe an agent would be that stupid as the let something slip! I'll bet it was a stupid grey shirt. I hope they find the truth soon..." Rat looked over to Lauren who was walking beside him but she didn't answer. Instead she looked like she was about to cry.

"Oh darling, it will be fine. They'll find the person, and everything will be back to normal. At least we have Kate" They walked together in silence for a while but just before they reached the red shirt building, Lauren burst into tears

"But, rat... It was me" Rat sped up, the only thing possible to do in a situation like this. He couldn't stop, practically running by the time he reached the building. Lauren! What had she been thinking? It was a complete and utter disaster, betrayal of her trust. For god's sake, Rat was the father of Laurens child! And here she is giving away the secrets of Rat's life. He had spent his entire life in some sort of institution and had always wished to get out but now the thought of having to face the world on his own was scary. Rat could hear Lauren calling after him but he ignored her. She was the last person on earth he wanted to speak to.

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"Rat! Wait! I just have to explain something... Rat!" but her calls went unanswered as Rat got further and further away from her. Lauren couldn't believe that her entire like was disintegrating in front of her, the life of 300 other young children as well! And it was all her fault. She didn't know what to do.

At that moment, Lauren felt like killing herself...

*

Rat turned around just before he reached the door, just in time to see Lauren falling to the ground. "Noooooooooooooooo"


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer: I do not own CHERUB_**

Chapter 3

_Rat turned around just before he reached the door, just in time to see Lauren falling to the ground. "Noooooooooooooooo"_

When Lauren next woke up, she was no longer lying on the damp ground of CHERUB Campus; instead she was surrounded by white walls and lying on an uncomfortable bed. No one was around which Lauren thought was very rude of them, shouldn't all of CHERUB be worried about her safety? Suddenly memories flooded through Laurens mind but all she could see was Rat, Rat running as fast as possible away from Lauren. Everything was her fault – she had wrecked everything. If that's how Rat had reacted... Lauren just couldn't imagine how much everyone else would hate her.

A nurse came noisily into Laurens room and so Lauren pretended to be asleep. She couldn't face having to talk to anyone at this moment.

"So, as you can see Mrs Asker, Lauren is suffering quite a lot here. We don't actually know the exact cause of her problems but it is clear that something terrible has happened to her in the past that is causing her to act in this way."

"But... it's been 5 days now!"

"Yes I know. Sometimes patients don't actually want to wake up. They may be frightened to face what surrounds them or unable to confront their fears. There is little we can do except hope and wait."

"Ok thank you Nurse Jones. I'll leave her here with you then as I've got to get back to work" with that Zara turned to leave the room. She couldn't stand being in the same room as Lauren at the moment, watching her suffering.

"Oh Mrs Asker" The nurse called

"Yes"

"Is there anyone who is extremely close to Lauren? Someone who may be able to remind her of the good things in life?"

"Well... yes I will see to that. Thank you Nurse"

Lauren was shocked at this entire conversation. 5 days! 5 days she'd been out yet it seemed as though neither Rat, Kate nor James had been to see her. Not even Kate her little daughter! No-one cared about her.

*

Meanwhile Kerry was confused. She was a black shirt yet they'd sent her on a recruitment mission? She'd had her phone confiscated and hadn't been able to talk with anyone from CHERUB. Where was everyone? Why had they just left her unceremoniously in this dump – that's not what CHEURB was about! There was no one in this place even worth looking at for CHERUB, except one girl. Kerry thought her name was Jui Jang but she looked about 12 – too old to be a CHERUB agent. Still, Kerry thought, no harm in trying!

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Rat was sick and tired of looking after little red shirts. Hell! He was even getting tired of Kate! Rat wondered why on earth he'd been landed with this job and now that Lauren had disappeared somewhere it was only James and himself left.

CHERUB was in decay. The grass was unmown and weeds were growing in all the flower beds. The floors were unswept and the walls were dirty. Yet, there were people wandering about all the time including Zara. Rat wondered if they were actually doing anything to help CHERUB.

But he imagined they would have to be. There were over 1000 people living on CHERUB Campus – they couldn't all just be thrown into children's homes, people would start to get suspicious. It was all very confusing and Rat wondered for the umpteenth time what his life was going to be like after CHEURB which could be soon the way things were going.

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Lauren couldn't stand it any longer. After the nurse had been gone for what Lauren thought was an eternity she got out of bed on wobbly legs and wandered into the bathroom. She still couldn't believe that it was 5 days since she'd last been awake. At least while she'd been asleep the beginnings of plan had been forming...

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Thanks for reading! Please review :)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kerry wandered through the corridors. Despite trying to be as quiet as possible she couldn't help herself but let out a little shriek when her fingers swept along the paint peeling walls collecting a splinter. She really couldn't understand the betrayal of CHEURB in leaving her in such a place, after all she was a black shirt! One of the best agents CHERUB had. In the end Kerry had decided to take matters into her own hands and went to visit Jui Jang, a little Chinese girl who looked about 12 years old and from what Kerry had noticed, had the perfect qualities for a CHERUB agent.

James looked over to the corner where he could see Rat sitting with Kate all alone. He smiled looking at them thinking how little time anyone had to themselves these days. Sometimes James wondered if it would have been better if he had been shipped off to a childrens home instead of being left to look after the little kids, at least that way he could have gone off the rails, returned to his old life before CHERUB... then James thought, would that ever be possible?

"Papers never have any good news to report" Lauren said to no-one in particular. She was going mad in this place and here was the proof, wasn't talking to yourself the first sign of madness? No-one had come to visit her since Zara and it seemed like they'd all forgotten her. Maybe this was her punishment for letting out the secret of CHERUB? For several days now the papers had been reporting the missing of a little girl named Sarah Jane who was only 5 years old. The girl had reportedly been last seen in the area around the hospital in which they'd dumped Lauren. Lauren decided that enough was enough and 'discharged' herself from the hospital.

She was sleeping peacefully which Kerry was pleased about. At least she wouldn't have to use her sleeping gas that she'd brought with her. Sometimes Kerry wondered what was really going on at CHERUB, they'd dumped her in the home and cut off all communication with CHERUB, yet they'd left her tear gas, sleeping gas, her lock pickers and numerous other special tools. What did they want her to do? Kerry began her search of Jui Jang's room. There was painfully little to search through and not much information that could help Kerry. That was until she saw something hidden in the bottom of Jui Jangs sock drawer...

Kerry would have been shocked to know that Jui Jang had witnessed Kerry's systematic search of her cupboards then her chest of draws. Jui Jang thought that it would be pointless to interrupt her when it was such a source of entertainment that she rarely got during the day. What's more, she couldn't understand what Kerry would be interested in her things for anyway, after all there wasn't many things that were abnormal. Only her clothes and a few books. That was why Jui Jang was totally unprepared when Kerry started crying and ran out of the room after looking in her sock drawer.

"I have tried numerous times to contact Kerry, Dante, Bethany – actually most of the black shirts but they never answer and some of the homes have even said they have never seen them before. It's like they've just disappeared into thin air! You have to remember Zara, these kids are damn intelligent and know a hell of a lot about espionage. After all – that is their job!" Zara remained silent in face of this tyrant from Ewart "Darling, listen to me, we have to find them and give them back their jobs, their homes here, we have to continue! These are kids, these are my children, my family and we can't just let them to fend for themselves out there!" Fortunately for Zara, Rat, one of the only agents left on campus, knocked on the door at that moment.

"Hey, I was just wondering if you would be able to tell me where Lauren has gone. I mean, it's almost alright that you've cut me off from all my friends but now, cutting me off from Lauren has gone too far. Kate is starting to ask where her Mummy is and the other kids are getting very anxious to hear from her. James and I just don't have that calming effect on them" This was just too much for Zara and she burst into tears.

The truth was, Zara didn't know where some of her agents were. Most of the younger kids had stayed in the homes they'd been given. From all accounts it appeared they had given the idea of CHEURB up as a bad joke and accepted life for how it would be from now on. The idea saddened Zara but in some ways she was happy because it meant they could continue their lives. On the other hand, many of the senior agents had disappeared. It seems they took matters into their own hands and left the homes. Zara couldn't really blame them; after all they did know how to look after themselves! It was particularly worrying though that a lot of the black shirts had been placed in nearby children's homes and there had been a number of news report of break ins in the last few days. Even Lauren had gone missing from the hospital. It was all going downhill, Zara which she could just turn back the clock and solve everything.

Kerry was so speechless she was so shocked and it was a number of days before anyone could make her come out of her room. That was until Jui Jang came to visit. Jui Jang had glanced up shyly at the older girl before wandering into the room. She seemed unsure about what to say or do. Kerry didn't know either and just let the girl gather her bearings. He obviously had something important to say. "Kerry, the other night... I... I saw you when you came into my room. I was thinking about my day and I coudn't get to sleep and then you... you came in and I was scared so I didn't say anything" Kerry was shocked speechless yet again and missed the next part of Jui Jangs speech, she tuned back in to hear "and that photo you saw in my sock drawer... that's my family well, that's my mum and dad and my older sister who I've never met. She disappeared a long time ago."


End file.
